THE GROCERY CHALLENGE

[Knee Deep in Water Chloe]

Thanks for the welcomes!
My biggest challenge is that I live in a small town.
We do have a Wal-Mart and a Safeway, but we don't like Safeway dairy products.
We also have Fred Meyer which I think is only in the Pacific NW.
So, no Rite Aid, CVS, Walgreens.
Costco is an hour away. I do get there once per month or so. I get their coupon book. January's coupoun book came yesterday. Using just coupons for stuff I'd buy anyway I'll save $54.
We don't get the newspaper at home because I can't stand the clutter. I do try to get the coupons from the paper at work though.
The printing of coupons I need to get better at, especially if Wal-mart will take them.
The local grocery store here has signs that say they will not accept internet coupons.

Happy New Year, everyone!

[mrslynch]

dancinmama and suziq--thanks for the welcome and the info. i'm working my way through the handbook and plan on spending some time this weekend going through some of the coupon sites. i'm looking forward to getting started! i've even outlined how i'm going to track my coupon adventure on my blog!
it's been a slow, slow day at work...

[dancinmama]

Dec 30, 2010 13:39:49 GMT -5 dogmom said:

I'm learning so much from the new posts my head is spinning! Thank you so much! I have a suggestion on obtaining coupon inserts that was posted on the old board, but, it works for me. Not free but cheaper than buying the newspaper at a news stand or... The Dollar Store in my area (maybe yours?) sells Sunday metro area newspapers for, yes, a dollar. After you checked to see what is available in the inserts on line, you can see if it is worth your while. It's worth the dollar for all the inserts, no tax... They are usually available Saturday late morning. I know it has been worth my while to do this.

I just thought I'd throw this back out there...

Oh, one thing, you taught me not to "cherry pick" my coupons.

MS "Dancinmomma", how is Mr Rocket? I'm really interested in your suggestions on reasonable dog treats and food.

The Rocket Man is doing quite well. He is full of puppy dog energy and is such a joy!!

I have gotten "most" of my pet food/treats free or for pennies on the dollar. There are two ways to do it. One way is to stockpile when a new pet food product hits the market. Often the company will provide a free coupon in the Sunday inserts that entices you to try it. Gather as many coupons as you can and stockpile. Many times the expiration date is two years down the road. By that time there will be another new food on the market that will be for free. Another way that I get pet food for free or really cheap is to wait until it goes on sale at one of the drug chains, use coupons to reduce the price even further, and pay with rewards. I recently bought Purina Puppy Chow at Rite Aid and Friskies at CVS doing this and only paid sales tax, if that.

This works for me ONLY because I happen to have three furry friends who are not at all picky about what I feed them. Milo the Lizard Slayer was a little bit taken aback by the Meow Mix wet food that was free, but I knew that when he got hungry enough he would eat it and he did just that. Now, depending on the flavor that I give him, he wolfs it right down!! HTH

[dancinmama]

dogmom: I'm sorry. I didn't even give you a proper welcome sooooo...... WELCOME, WELCOME, WELCOME to the Grocery Challenge from me - dancinmama!!

I'm glad that you found us and really hope that my tips about getting cheap pet food are helpful.

[dancinmama]

Dec 30, 2010 12:38:09 GMT -5 @breezy said:

there is a handbook?
I have a lot to learn!

breezy: I'm sorry if I didn't tell you about it. Yes, the handbook should answer a ton of questions and it kind of give you a step by step guide as to what we do and how we do it.

It was a collaborative effort by me and several gals who were active on the board at the time that it was written (about a year and a half ago).

[constanz22]

Dec 30, 2010 13:15:23 GMT -5 @tsm3012 said:

Target Holiday clearance is 75% off and you can use your coupons. Klennex holiday boxes rang up at 0.62, ziploc storage containers at 0.74, reynolds wrap 1.74, and ziploc bags 0.74 I used coups for all. Wrapping paper was about 0.62 cents a roll and a 3pk was 1.50. Gift bags med size 0.24 and cute gift tags w/ stuffed animal 0.75. Glade candles were also on clearance I didn't buy but they were $2ish. Burts Bees gift sets were clearanced and there are coups out there but they still weren't cheap enough for me.

I brought my kids with me and had them searching the discount area to match up coupons. They were having a blast.

Bummer...not here. I called this morning, didn't get a clear answer (some is 30%, some 50%, some 75%) so decided I needed to just go there at lunch and check it out. The only items that were 75% were the Christmas stuff in the "dollar spot" but I did snag a bunch of cute bags for .25. All of the rest of the decorations, wrapping (what little is left) was ALL still only 50%. Very disappointing...

[jax]

Bummer. We hit our Target 2 weeks after Christmas 2 years ago. Got a really nice pre-lit tree for our front room ("official" tree is in the family room) for $17. Normally $189!

Dec 30, 2010 15:53:11 GMT -5 constanz22 said:

Dec 30, 2010 13:15:23 GMT -5 @tsm3012 said:

Target Holiday clearance is 75% off and you can use your coupons. Klennex holiday boxes rang up at 0.62, ziploc storage containers at 0.74, reynolds wrap 1.74, and ziploc bags 0.74 I used coups for all. Wrapping paper was about 0.62 cents a roll and a 3pk was 1.50. Gift bags med size 0.24 and cute gift tags w/ stuffed animal 0.75. Glade candles were also on clearance I didn't buy but they were $2ish. Burts Bees gift sets were clearanced and there are coups out there but they still weren't cheap enough for me.

I brought my kids with me and had them searching the discount area to match up coupons. They were having a blast.

Bummer...not here. I called this morning, didn't get a clear answer (some is 30%, some 50%, some 75%) so decided I needed to just go there at lunch and check it out. The only items that were 75% were the Christmas stuff in the "dollar spot" but I did snag a bunch of cute bags for .25. All of the rest of the decorations, wrapping (what little is left) was ALL still only 50%. Very disappointing...

[jax]

HA my savings begin already. Just ran to my Safeway to pick up some salad stuff, and Purdue Oven Stuffer roasters were something like .68 a pound - about half off!

Fantastic, because my other half is a Brit and his ideal dinner is roasted chicken, potatoes & gravy. We have that a couple times a month!

Grabbed 2, brought 'em home and crammed them in my tiny little freezer. Would have bought more but no room to store. A deep freeze will be purchased ASAP.

[Deleted]

Hello - looking forward to better budgeting in the New Year. Where do I find the handbook? Thanks!

[misspt]

Alpha-I ended up using my stockpiled St. Ive's body wash to refill my hand soap dispensers, I really like it, it works well, moisturizes and doesn't gunk up my sink.

[nickyleey]

ALPHAYANKEE- "Are there any good TP deals this week or next? I am down to my last few packages of FREE Angel Soft from almost two years ago! I'm going to feel like a failed hound if I run out of TP!"

Hey Alpha! I was in your neck of the woods for the past week. I miss my hometown so much, but it's good to be back in my own house in NC! I did find a good (for me, anway) TP deal at Kroger. They're having a P&G promotion where you buy 4 items and get $4 back. Charmin 12 double rolls will be around $3 OOP after the promo deal, the P&G Q from 12/31 and the Kroger eCoupon from their website. And I'm with you on the hand soap! 30 cents is great for me. But I would never buy 60!!

[dancinmama]

Dec 30, 2010 16:29:56 GMT -5 @anne81 said:

Hello - looking forward to better budgeting in the New Year. Where do I find the handbook? Thanks!

anne81: WELCOME, WELCOME, WELCOME to the Grocery Challenge from me - dancinmama!! If you want to bring down the cost of your groceries, health, hygiene, and household products, you've come to the right place and we're happy to help you in any way that we can.

A link to a copy of the Handbook can be found on pg. 3 of this thread / post 85. suzwantstobefree posted it so that I wouldn't have to keep emailing it out so THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU to suz!!

[dancinmama]

Dec 30, 2010 16:06:13 GMT -5 @jax said:

HA my savings begin already. Just ran to my Safeway to pick up some salad stuff, and Purdue Oven Stuffer roasters were something like .68 a pound - about half off!

Fantastic, because my other half is a Brit and his ideal dinner is roasted chicken, potatoes & gravy. We have that a couple times a month!

Grabbed 2, brought 'em home and crammed them in my tiny little freezer. Would have bought more but no room to store. A deep freeze will be purchased ASAP.

jax: That's EXACTLY the way that it is done!! Great job. Now you just need to find a way to get potatoes and gravy (maybe you make it home made) on the cheap and you're good to go for that kind of meal. My DH likes instant mashed potatoes so I stockpiled them when they were on clearance at CVS for $.37/box and I paid for them with for-profit EBs so they were FREE to me!! I also use them when I make potato soup.

[bella]

Went by CVS today and got the Tone Body Wash, $3.88, had a $1 coupon so was only out of pocket $3.15 tax and all. Got a $3 EB, turned around and got 2 bottles of Pantene, had a $3 Coupon and the $3 EB so was only out $1.46 and got a $2 EB. I didn't think that was too bad. When is TP going to be a good deal again?

[dancinmama]

Dec 30, 2010 17:37:41 GMT -5 bella said:

Went by CVS today and got the Tone Body Wash, $3.88, had a $1 coupon so was only out of pocket $3.15 tax and all. Got a $3 EB, turned around and got 2 bottles of Pantene, had a $3 Coupon and the $3 EB so was only out $1.46 and got a $2 EB. I didn't think that was too bad. When is TP going to be a good deal again?

bella: Way to roll your EBs to get more hygiene items.

Last year there was an awesome TP deal at CVS in the first quarter of the year (for Cottonelle 20 double roll pack). There is no guarantee the the coupon stars will align just right for another deal like that, but just keep your eyes peeled.

In the meantime, if there is a week when you find you can make a profit in EBs on something and they have TP at a pretty decent price, consider just burning some EBs on TP to tide you over until you can find a killer deal. I was doing that for a while at WAGs. I would wait for the FARR deals where I had a coupon to cover most or all of my OOP. I'd roll the RRs as long as I could and when I couldn't roll them anymore, I'd use them to buy TP. That's how I built up my TP stockpile before that CVS deal came along. HTH

[dancinmama]

Dec 30, 2010 16:47:31 GMT -5 misspt said:

Alpha-I ended up using my stockpiled St. Ive's body wash to refill my hand soap dispensers, I really like it, it works well, moisturizes and doesn't gunk up my sink.

LOVE IT misspt!! I'm going to steal that idea when my hand soap stockpile is gone. I thought shampoo would be a good alternative, but based on what another poster said, maybe not. I have TONS of free body wash and (7) bottles of the St. Ives. AWESOME SUGGESTION!!

[shelly527in]

Dec 30, 2010 11:01:58 GMT -5 suziq38 said:

I watched part of the show on TLC and I know I am not as good as those people!

I have a question: Do any of you order coupons from a coupon company?
I would like to order about 6 flyers of the P and G for December.

What company still offers them?

I like this month's flyer.

Thanks.

If it's for the P&G that came out 12/26, I got 5 off of ebay for $4.50. I normally spend $3.75 on two papers so this was a great deal. She had several sets for sale.

[bella]

I have got to get used to this format. This is the format I was used to when I started with the MSN Money Boards. I have just got to get used to them again. Happy New Years everyone! I am now formally retired! Got my vacation pay that I have earned for 2011 (5 weeks pay) and I start drawing my pension the end of January. My job now will be to get the best deals for the items that we need and cut our grocery bill and other monthly bills down. After 2011 we will have a lot more money but I still plan to live frugally.

[suziq38]

My favorite couponer on the TLC show was the lady from Philadelphia.
She was just taking a leisurely walk, going to her friends and neighbors for coupons.
In other words, she does not PAY for her coupons.
Also, her total bill minus the sales and coupons came to $6.35 or so.
I can appreciate that, because $6.00 off the total bill was for the whole chicken.

If she lives alone, that chicken could feed her for 4 dinners and 2 lunches.

I liked the fact tha she paid very little OOP.

The second person I thought was fairly good was the SAHM from McKinley, Ca.
She sent dumpster diving for her coupons, so they also were free.

She also only spend $2.67 or so for all of her stuff.

The first lady that spent $50.00 or so and Nathan that spent $200.00 on the huge $5K order are not my kind of shoppers.
Why? they had to spend money to get all of this stuff that they could not use for at least 5 years.

I don't like putting out money.

[suziq38]

If it's for the P&G that came out 12/26, I got 5 off of ebay for $4.50. I normally spend $3.75 on two papers so this was a great deal. She had several sets for sale.

Thanks, Shelly!

[suziq38]

Some inexpensive meals to make now that it is winter:

Buy a whole chicken, on sale for about 80 cents a pound.
You can bake this for 1 1/2 hours at 350 degrees. a 3 pounder will cost about $2.50.

Chicken breast and veggies the first night,
Tacos and beans the second night
Chicken salad sandwich with mayo and celery on wheat bread
or a tossed green salad with chicken pieces the third night.

Chicken noodle soup the last night.
All from 1 chicken!

Homemade chili and ground beef in a crock pot.

Fry 2 pounds of ground beef and 1/2 diced onion transfer to a crock pot.
Add 1 can each of kidney beans, pinto, and butter beans. Let it cook on high for 2 hours.
Switch heat to warm until time to serve for dinner.


Spaghetti sauce:

I huge can of tomato sauce (from Costco, the restaurant size).
2 pounds of ground beef
1 small package (less than 1 pound of Italian sausage)
1 diced onion
3 cloves of diced garlic
1 smaller can of diced tomatoes
1 small can of tomato paste
1/2 c of parmesan cheese
3 tablespoons of sugar
various Italian seasonings
Fresh Italian parsley diced fine

Cook the meats, cut up the sausage fry with garlic and onions w/ olive oil.
Drain oil.

Add everything else in an 8 quart pan.
Simmer on low for about 3-4 hours, or cook in a crock pot.

Now you can cool the mixture and pour it in plastic containers (enough to feed 2 or 4, whatever your family needs are).
Freeze for future meals.

You can make: Spaghetti, manicotti, lasagna, etc. Just defrost the portion of sauce and boil the pasta.

[jax]

Dice up that leftover chicken. In a big bowl, add to taste - diced celery, mayo, and sweet or dill relish (I like dill!) and some black pepper.

You now have to die for homemade roasted chicken salad, perfect on toast for a chicken salad sandwich dinner, or on top of your favorite salad greens with a drizzle of dressing.

You can go really healthy with this by substituting the full fat mayo with light or fat free mayo (which I'm pretty sure is made of air, and I hate) or yogurt.

Dec 30, 2010 20:04:16 GMT -5 suziq38 said:

Some inexpensive meals to make now that it is winter:

Buy a whole chicken, on sale for about 80 cents a pound.
You can bake this for 1 1/2 hours at 350 degrees. a 3 pounder will cost about $2.50.

Chicken breast and veggies the first night,
Tacos and beans the second night
Chicken salad sandwich with mayo and celery on wheat bread
or a tossed green salad with chicken pieces the third night.

Chicken noodle soup the last night.
All from 1 chicken!

Homemade chili and ground beef in a crock pot.

Fry 2 pounds of ground beef and 1/2 diced onion transfer to a crock pot.
Add 1 can each of kidney beans, pinto, and butter beans. Let it cook on high for 2 hours.
Switch heat to warm until time to serve for dinner.


Spaghetti sauce:

I huge can of tomato sauce (from Costco, the restaurant size).
2 pounds of ground beef
1 small package (less than 1 pound of Italian sausage)
1 diced onion
3 cloves of diced garlic
1 smaller can of diced tomatoes
1 small can of tomato paste
1/2 c of parmesan cheese
3 tablespoons of sugar
various Italian seasonings
Fresh Italian parsley diced fine

Cook the meats, cut up the sausage fry with garlic and onions w/ olive oil.
Drain oil.

Add everything else in an 8 quart pan.
Simmer on low for about 3-4 hours, or cook in a crock pot.

Now you can cool the mixture and pour it in plastic containers (enough to feed 2 or 4, whatever your family needs are).
Freeze for future meals.

You can make: Spaghetti, manicotti, lasagna, etc. Just defrost the portion of sauce and boil the pasta.

[suzwantstobefree]

A link to a copy of the Handbook can be found on pg. 3 of this thread / post 85. suzwantstobefree posted it so that I wouldn't have to keep emailing it out so THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU to suz!!

Happy to help Dancinmama!!!! It must make your life a lot easier!!!

[leeann]

ok this is a dumb question but forgive me because I did not read the other boards.
what exactly is the grocery challenge? Is there a certain amount of $$ that we can spend? etc?

[shelly527in]

Dec 30, 2010 22:42:37 GMT -5 @leeann said:

ok this is a dumb question but forgive me because I did not read the other boards.
what exactly is the grocery challenge? Is there a certain amount of $$ that we can spend? etc?

No, it's just a personal challenge to get the best deals you can. We aren't competing against each other or anything like that.

This is the first post of the Grocery Challenge from the MSN Money board. It was posted by Talk2Me2 nearly 4 years ago..1/26/07!

"Suzi Q and I were talking and I think OP might get a kick out of this one. I was thinking it would be fun to post your current food budget and then how far you can shrink it. Give your strategies, your great deals. I was, at my most extravagant, paying $100-$200 per week to feed our family of four plus five kids that I look after Monday through Friday each week.

I used to feed DH and myself on $25-30 per week back in the day, so I thought hmmmmm...wonder if I can pull off feeding everyone for $50 a week now? How low can I go? To be fair, I still have some food in my pantry, but this will help me to use it up instead of push it to the back and eventually throw it away. I'm going to try to do the $50 per week challenge, you may want to adjust the amount up or >eeek!< down according to how many you are feeding.

As for us, my goal is to hit the $200 a month while not compromising health. I am planning on making lots of stuff from scratch and stocking up when I hit bargains. Anyone game?"



And THAT, my friends, is how The Grocery Challenge began!!

[dancinmama]

Dec 30, 2010 21:09:22 GMT -5 @suzwantstobefree said:

A link to a copy of the Handbook can be found on pg. 3 of this thread / post 85. suzwantstobefree posted it so that I wouldn't have to keep emailing it out so THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU to suz!!

Happy to help Dancinmama!!!! It must make your life a lot easier!!!

It sure does!!

[murphath]

Hi All, Here are some deals I did today:
CVS
Tone Tahitian & Vanilla Body Wash $2.74 (tag says $3.88 but it's really on clearance). -$1 q = $1.74 + .22 tax = $1.97. Got $3 EB back so a $1.03 profit.

Rite Aid #1:
4 Progresso soup: $6.00 - $1/4 q & $1/2 VV q
1 Ghiradelli bar $1.50 -.75 q
1 Olay body wash $6.99 -2.00 P&G q & - $3.00 RA flu q book
1 Gilette clinical deod. $7.99 -$3.00 P&G q; -$2.00 RA flu q book
1 Sinex Dayquil $5.00 -$4.00 P&G Sinex q
-$5/$25 RA q
-$3.50 RA UP q
Total: .23 + $1.25 tax = $1.48 Rec'd $10 UPs

Rite Aid #2
6 Progresso soup: $10.69 (I made a boo boo--one of the cans was $3.19, not $1.50) -$1/4 q and -.50/2 q
2 Gilette deod $8.00 -$4.00 w/BOGOF P&G q
1 Zone bar $1.49 -$1 q
1 Crest toothpaste $2.79 -.75 q/-$1 RA flu q book
1 Lamisil $7.99 -$2 RA in ad q & $2 man q
-$5/$25 RA q
-$14 UPs
Total: $1.71 + tax $1.15 = $2.86 Recd $10 UPs

I will also submit receipt for $2 and $1 SCR for the Lamisil and Zone bar.

The Progresso soups are each generating a $1 UP that was not advertised.

[debinwa]

Well, I'm happy that I found my way to you guys! I have been so busy with Christmas and stuff lately I haven't shopped much and haven't read the boards. I almost forgot to find this site and get signed up! I actually let $25 in RRs/Jingle Cash expire-- how's that for a killer?? (I have consoled myself knowing that $18 of it was a freebie from one of my Wags cashiers when they had to re-ring one of my orders, but ouch, that hurt!)

[debinwa]

Re the Extreme Couponers show: The first lady, Amanda, used to be a mod on HCW and is now a frequent poster on another board I use. She said TLC wanted her to do the most extreme purchase she could, and encouraged her husband to act frustrated with her purchases. She said they taped 20-something hours of her and her husband, and edited out many things she thought were important, including that she purchases for her parents and grandparents, and that she also donates lots of stuff. She is upset that she was portrayed as a bit of a lunatic, although her stockpile seems over the top to me.

I have also read that the 'jello guy' (Nathan) sells most of his stuff. He was apparently on another tv show some time ago and got quite a bit of overage, and was heavily criticized. For this show, he was getting cats for the cereal and soap, but it wasn't so clear on the show. That's one reason he was okay paying $200 for his purchases.

[dancinmama]

Okay, I just found out how the second lady on Extreme Couponing got her total at Safeway soooo low. YEAH!! Safeway is the main grocery store where I shop, but I have found absolutely no way to do what I THOUGHT they portrayed her as doing and I've been at this for a while.

Anyway, I went to her blog and she had a link to a radio interview that she did where she kind of explained how she did it.

First, the "retail value" of what she purchased was $638.47. That means that that was the total BEFORE her club card was applied and THEN she used coupons to cover the balance. Okay, that makes A LOT of sense because that alone would have reduced her total substantially. She also had some CATs from previous transactions that she used to bring her total down which covered many of the items that she did not have coupons for. Obviously she then had coupons which made everything else in her cart free. Forty coupons for the pasta and 40 coupons for the Ragu (remember the get Ragu free when you buy a certain brand of pasta coupon?).

I can tell you right now that my Safeway would NEVER allow me to do what she did. Geez, they balk when I try to buy (10) of the same item using (10) coupons. I can't tell you how many times they've tried to tell me that I could only use one coupon because the coupon says "ONE COUPON PER PURCHASE". The next time they do that, I'm going to ask them if they watched the Krazy Coupon Lady on TLC when she was shopping at Safeway!! ha ha ha